The present invention relates to assigning work cells to network connected orchestration components.
Industrial automation systems typically use a local controller in the form of a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or Industrial Personal Computer (IPC) that directly controls the automated machines involved in the automation (e.g., robotic arms, conveyance devices, labeling devices, etc.). These local controllers also receive direct input from sensing devices (presence sensors, barcode readers, vision systems, etc.). The sensors, the automated machine, and the local controller form a work cell. A facility or warehouse may include hundreds of work cells that perform a range of tasks.
As industrial automation systems become more advanced, it becomes beneficial to orchestrate these control systems from network connected orchestration components. That is, instead of most of the logic for operating the work cell being located in the local control component, the logic is moved to the network connected orchestration component which may provide a more user friendly software deployment interface. As the number of work cells increase, managing the assignment of the work cells to the network connected orchestration components becomes more difficult.